Hunter ed coordinator says deer hunting safe, despite accidents

November 30, 2007

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) - Like thousands of other North Dakota hunters, Dennis Zimmerman killed a deer this month. Ten years ago, hunting nearly killed him. Zimmerman, 69, of Anamoose, was hunting with six other men in November 1997 when one of them accidentally shot him in the groin. The bullet severed an artery and Zimmerman almost bled to death. ''It was touch and go. The doctor told me I had 10 minutes to live when I got to the emergency room,'' he said. ''I was in intensive care for four days.'' Zimmerman did not hunt for a couple of years after that. But he has since returned to the field every fall, rifle in hand, but more careful. ''I'll never do that again,'' he said of deer hunting in a large party. ''I hunt with one guy. He knows where I'm at, and I know where he's at.'' In the past five years in North Dakota, only one deer gun season has passed with no documented shooting accidents. There were three reported accidents during the opening weekend of this fall's season - one more than the total for the entire 16 -day season last year. Jim Carter, the hunter education coordinator for the state Game and Fish Department, called the three opening-weekend incidents an anomaly. The state still is a safe place to go afield in search of that freezer-filling doe or trophy buck, he said. With an estimated 75,000 people with guns combing the countryside on the opening weekend of deer season, an accident or two is not unexpected, he said. ''Hopefully, people will come through unscathed the rest of (the season),'' he said. ''Sometimes, these things are a wake-up call.'' The season ends next Sunday. It started at noon Nov. 9, and it took only a few hours for the first accident to occur. A hunter sitting in a car northwest of Minot was shot the afternoon of opening day, apparently by a member of his own hunting party, game warden Alan Howard said. The man was not seriously injured. Howard said late in the week that he was still working on his report, and the Bottineau County sheriff's office declined to identify the victim. On Saturday morning of opening weekend, Darwin Duval, 43, of Horace, was hit in the leg by a stray bullet while hunting in a field south of Fargo. He was treated at a Fargo hospital and released last Monday. The same day Duval was shot, Ron Mehl, 37, of Eden Prairie, Minn., was shot in the chest while hunting in a Logan County corn field. He was listed in satisfactory condition in a Fargo hospital late in the week. Carter said any hunting accident is serious, but called the number of incidents minimal considering the number of hunters in the field over the entire year. The Game and Fish Department made a record 148,550 deer licenses available this year, up 5,050 from 2006. Wildlife officials say North Dakota's deer population is at an unprecedented level after a decade of mild winters. They are hoping hunters kill about 110,000 deer this year. ''Generally, if you've got more humanity doing things, whatever it is, the likelihood of accidents or incidents increases,'' Carter said. In the previous five years, only 11 documented firearms accidents were reported during deer gun season, the department said. Two involved deaths. North Dakota's track record for safe hunting has improved dramatically since a hunter education requirement took effect in 1979, Carter said. Hunters born after Dec. 31, 1961, must pass a certified state or provincial hunter education course before buying a license, unless they plan to hunt only on land they own or operate. Carter said about 5,500 people go through North Dakota's course each year. Since the requirement began 28 years ago, only 13 hunting-related deaths have been reported in North Dakota for all hunting seasons, compared with 89 deaths in the three decades before the requirement, he said. In 1958 alone, the state reported 10 hunting deaths. ''One course does not a safe hunter make, but at least they have some idea'' about safety, Carter said. ''While (accidents) resonate in the mind because it is horrific, there are a lot of good, safe people out there.'' Despite the bad memories of his near-fatal hunting expedition a decade ago, Zimmerman said he feels safe when he goes deer hunting now, because of the precautions he takes that are geared toward one simple goal. ''I don't want it to happen again,'' he said. Deer gun season firearms accidents BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) - The number of documented firearms accidents and fatalities during North Dakota's deer gun hunting season the past five years. There have been three such accidents so far this year, with no fatalities. 2006 - 2 accidents, 0 fatalities 2005 - 5 accidents, 1 fatality 2004 - 3 accident, 1 fatality 2003 - 0 accidents, 0 fatalities 2002 - 1 accident, 0 fatalities Source: N.D. Game and Fish Department